Elvis Costello And The Attractions

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• Elvis Costello And The Attractions

  The level of catchiness of Elvis Costello's music is almost absurd. It seems like everyone of his songs could be a hit and many of them happen to be. His shows offer something that everyone can relate to, recognize and enjoy. He frequently changes up his setlist and the formatting of his tours, and he always leaves the audience hungry for more. Elvis is constantly creating music and testing new ideas. He will even present new material before it even makes it on record. Not only does he test out new musical ideas, he also tampers around with touring ideas. During one of his stints he brought a wheel of fortune type devise along with him. It was compartmentalized in terms of his hit songs. Elvis' setlist was determined by which song the arrow pointed to on the wheel. However the last time I saw Elvis Costello, which was in 2014, he played an entire set of acoustic material. Not an instance of the show was dull.

  When Elvis is not wowing the audience with his multitude of hits he is busy engaging them with his witty British humor. Costello has one of the best stage presence I have seen. He really knows how to control the audience. On top of the jokes riddled throughout his set he also tells very interesting personal stories that relate beautifully to his music.

  With a catalogue like Elvis Costello it is no mystery that his setlist is going to be phenomenal. He plays covers from Robert Wyatt to Nat King Cole as well as covers by his collaborators like Nick Lowe and Richard Thompson. Timeless classics like "Alison" and "Man Out of Time" are sprinkled in to his set. I nearly died when he played "Watching the Detectives". I seriously questioned whether he could pull off this song with just an acoustic guitar and boy did he put me in my place. However one thing I did not question certainly more than ever now is his resounding talent. That night he put the entire audience in a state of ecstasy and made believers out of us all.

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  by wjmcc